Portable sleepouts, built for your backyard.

Possibly. Not needing a building consent does not automatically mean you do not need a resource consent. It can still be required if the granny flat breaks height, boundary or site coverage rules, or sits in a flood, coastal or other hazard area. Covenants on your title can also stop a second dwelling. Your council planner can tell you what applies to your section.

We deliver to most locations across New Zealand with insured transport, and manage site access planning, placement and setup. Tell us where your section is and we will give you an estimate.

A portable (or transportable) sleepout, sometimes called a prefab or relocatable sleepout, is a small, detached cabin built in a workshop and delivered to your property. It gives you an extra room for guests, teenagers, a home office or a studio without building on site. Ours are built and finished in our Motueka workshop, then delivered ready to place on foundations and connect to power.

Often not. An open studio sleepout of up to 30m² (from 10m²), with no plumbing, toilet or cooking facilities, can be built without a building consent if it is single-storey, detached and meets the conditions. It has to be built with lightweight materials, be a kitset design reviewed by a chartered professional engineer, or have the work supervised by a licensed building practitioner. It also needs to sit away from your boundaries (generally at least as far as the sleepout is high), and electrical and drainage work must be done by the right licensed trades. It still has to meet the Building Code. If you add a kitchen or bathroom, the granny flat rules apply instead, which includes a PIM from your council.

Yes. Our sleepouts can be an open studio, or include a kitchen, a bathroom or both. A studio of up to 30m² can be built without a building consent if it meets the conditions. If you add a kitchen, a bathroom or both, the granny flat rules apply instead (for a home of up to 70m²), which includes a PIM from your council before any work starts. We can help you through the paperwork.

Our 18m² and 24m² cabins suit a sleepout: an extra room next to your main home. From 36m² a cabin is really more of a home, and a granny flat is a small, self-contained home where someone can live full-time. They have different consent rules, so it is worth working out which one you want first. Our granny flats page covers the other option.

A sleepout is meant as an extra room for the home on your property, not a home in its own right. If someone will live there full-time, or you plan to rent it out, check with us and your council first, as granny flat or dwelling rules and tenancy rules may apply.

Yes. A lot of people use a sleepout as a home office, art studio or hobby room. It is a good way to separate work from home life. If clients or staff will be visiting, check your district plan for any home business rules.

Every model above shows a live “from” price for the cabin. Delivery, foundations and power connection are extra and depend on your site. Use the instant price calculator to build an estimate for your cabin and your location, including delivery.

A kitset sleepout arrives as parts that you or a builder put together on site. Ours are built and finished in our workshop and delivered as a complete cabin, so there is far less work to do on your section.

Yes. We build in Motueka and deliver across the South Island, including Canterbury and Christchurch, as well as the North Island. Tell us where your section is and we will give you a delivery estimate.